Cheaper Phone And Pay Parking In Dorchester

It will be installed in council run car parks and on street parking bays.

The new phone and pay system replaces the Ringo Service.

If you want to pay to park by phone you'll now be charged a minimum of 8p on top of the parking ticket - that's cheaper than what was there before.

The council say there won't be any need to change the machines that are currently in place.

The new phone and pay parking service will start on the 1st of November.

Leader of West Dorset District Council, Robert Gould said:

"We have kept our charges low because we know that convenient and affordable parking is important to motorists and key to helping town centres prosper.

"'Phone and pay' will bring Dorchester into line with other town centres across Dorset and can make paying for parking by phone cheaper for motorists.

"It also has the added benefit of being more cost effective for the district council to provide and we hope to be able to introduce the service to West Dorset's other main towns soon."

Hilary Cox, Dorset County Council's cabinet member for environment said:

"It is important for us to provide value for money services and reduce the extra costs for car park users while embracing the new technology. This new system will make paying for parking easier."

Additional features of 'phone and pay' include:

- Text confirmation that parking has been booked - Time to change your vehicle registration number if you have entered details incorrectly - Text alert when a session is due to expire - The facility to extend parking sessions remotely via phone, text or smartphone application

Confirmation and reminder text messages are charged at 10 pence each. The texts are optional and customers choose online or over the phone if they want to receive them.

A spokesperson for Bemrose Mobile said:

"Having already run a very successful trial throughout North Dorset, we are thrilled to be rolling our services out even further.

"As our service offering expands in the local area, motorists will be able to identify those car parks we operate by clear signage and location numbers visible on parking meters.

"In addition, once a motorist has used the 'phone and pay' system once, their details will be retained for future use to make parking even quicker."

To use the new service, motorists can pre-register their vehicles online at www.phoneandpay.co.uk, call 01305 207708 or text their vehicle registration number to 07786 207708.

Alternatively, motorists can simply register when they park by following the instructions provided on nearby pay and display machines.